In the wake of last week’s episode, which officially established the Sky People as the thirteenth coalition, this week’s episode questioned what exactly that meant for everyone. The goal of this show for every single character has always been to do what they think is best for their people. But with tensions rising and difficult decisions being made in an attempt to keep the peace, many are starting to have different opinions on how to best keep everyone safe. That’s essentially what this week’s episode dealt with, as everyone fought for what they believed was the right way to do things.

For Lexa and Clarke, this debate centered around their battle with Ice Nation. The Queen of Ice Nation had officially declared war by attacking Mount Weather, and Lexa felt the best way to deal with this was by entering a trial by combat to put it to rest once and for all. While the Ice Nation Queen had her son Roan fight for her, Lexa needed to prove that she was still just as strong as ever, deciding to fight for herself. Fearing that she would die fighting, Clarke wanted to find a different solution and went to Roan, concocting a plan to kill the Ice Nation Queen, thereby making Roan the king — a win-win for all parties. Little did she know that Lexa had the exact same plan and when it came down to it, instead of killing Roan, the Commander threw the spear at the Queen, ending her life and putting them in the best position possible with Ice Nation now that Roan is king.

It’s hard to say where exactly Clarke and Lexa stand right now. Clarke keeps insisting that she’s only staying there because it’s best for her people; but at the same time, she seemed overly concerned about Lexa potentially dying... considering a few episodes ago she couldn’t even stand the sight of the Commander. While Clarke is no longer outwardly holding a grudge against her, I think it’s safe to assume that Lexa isn’t fully forgiven yet and may never truly win back Clarke’s trust. For now, they’re willing to work together to do what’s best for their people, something they’ve had plenty of experience doing.

Back at home base, the debate on how to best protect the Sky People was heating up, with Charles Pike still leading a charge against the Grounders. Unlike some of the Sky People, he has never experienced the other side of the Grounders, and only views them as enemies. He refuses to accept Lincoln and when Lexa sent a group to help protect them, he took action and rounded up people to attack the group. The most disappointing part of this week’s episode was that Bellamy, who while understandably upset about the death of his girlfriend, made the terrible decision to join Pike. This is just one giant step backwards for Bellamy, who more than almost anyone knows that the Grounders aren’t all bad. He’s come so far to realize this since the beginning of the show and to see all of that reversed in one episode is very disappointing.

Of course, idiotic decisions make for better television and it would have been too easy to let Abby and Kane stay in power, making the smart decision that truly protected their people. Instead, the Sky People decided to elect Pike, who immediately rejected becoming the thirteenth coalition and began leading an army, Bellamy included, to attack the group of Grounders. While there obviously has to be some conflict to keep the audience interested, this whole thing kind of feels like a repeat of what we’ve already been through. There’s got to be more story to tell beyond just "the Sky People and Grounders don’t trust each other and must fight." What’s happening with Lexa, Clarke, and Roan is interesting. This? Not so much.

Speaking of not interesting, things also happened with Jasper and Monty in this episode but I could barely stand to watch because Jasper has gotten so annoying. I understand he’s in a lot of pain but he’s got to figure out a way to get past it, hopefully sooner rather than later. Plenty of people have tried to help him and he’s just been a jerk to every single one of them. Even his best friend, Monty, isn’t willing to take any of his crap anymore so maybe it’s time for Jasper to pick himself up and find a healthier way to deal with what he’s going through. Until then, I’ll just continue to tune him out.